#you get primary mages - those who control one of three primary colours and the two secondary colours linked to it*

[tracle0]

Elan :)

[talesofealdancynedom]

Uncle Cetus knitting; There is a matching picture, where Morgan is wearing that sweater by the way...

Tale 21: What The Wagon Was For (chapter 8 - On The Radio 8/8 ) part 6. Stories of wizards

no warings

           Wool and yarn; Soft threads tied together to keep warm. Self soothing, and expressing creativity. Natural fibers, twirled into textiles that are plush, yet strong. The smell of plastic from the store, that turns into a soft warm sent, as fingers pull it between needles and hooks; As it is transformed into a variety of adornments. Bright as red, or white with dots, thick as rope, or thin like thread; There is no limit to the yarn available to those who seek it. Each loaf, pulled from its inner loop, and wound into balls that seem to always escape, tangle, or go missing. There is always too little, or too much of it around. With a few years practice, a hat can be made in under an hour, with argyle of red and navy, against a confetti white base; Complete with ties and pom-poms. The secret ingredient is time and love; Weaved into something comforting, to be gifted and cherished by someone. A gift of warmth that shows you care.

There is an aesthetic, sensation, smell, and rhythm, in this ancient textile art. Not only calming, but also protective and embellishing. This is why when the couples’ knitting group was over, uncle Cetus kept knitting for the family, while Jupiter kept finding odd amounts of wool in the linen cupboard. While she groaned about the plethora of thread, each autumn, Morgan and the rest of the family, eagerly awaited what Cetus had spent the year crafting for them. Made with love, thought, dedication, and material that costs more then they should. these treasures were meaningful; Because they were made by hand, just for them.

           At the end of the semester, some important paperwork finally got processed and aproved. Magic politics can only function within the common laws of a land; And the law prioritizes children in need of homes, over opinionated wizards. Cetus, after struggling to organize finances after his mother died, finally got guardianship over his sister’s precious son. The problem was that Morgan was bonded to Tiberius Gate, living in an ominous tower. With Emilia. Aunt Jupiter was no quitter; She suggested they move into the tower as well. They already lived in town, and Reginia was going to be sent to magic school anyway. She was to be Morgan’s peer support. Though cousins, they were the same age and like siblings. As magical as Pepperidge was, Cetus and Jupiter were perfectly mundane; Born to magic houses, but unqualified to care for young mages. But they were qualified to provide a supportive and loving family, to two growing youths. Cetus was up to the challenge of helping Morgan overcome his trauma, grow, and be himself.  Mage or not, Morgan deserved to feel safe after everything he went through.

Thus, Cetus became a great aid in Morgan’s recovery. A male role model, as well as an incredible barrier to the corrupt wizard counsel. Morgan, as the mage of Tiberius Gate, was the way of getting to Pepperidge, and its mages. So, if anyone wanted to get rid of mages there, they needed to control Morgan. But now, they also had to threaten the wellbeing a commoner, who had common law on his side. Cetus knew it. No one was getting their fingers in any peanut butter jar, that would mess up his family’s happily ever afters. Every advance made to contain Morgan’s abilities, was being thwarted by an increasingly close pro mage community, in the tiny town of Pepperidge; From the bus driver, to every teacher and student. If he didn’t feel it, Morgan was completely safe.

           After school, mid week, Cetus dropped Morgan off at therapy, and Jupiter would come to pick him up after sessions.

“We have a family meeting, and child welfare check next week. As always, do your best, sport.” Cetus said, ruffling Morgan’s hair. It gave him joy; After almost a year of adoption, and counseling, Cetus could finally touch Morgan without him flinching. Cetus didn’t know what Leo was doing, or if it was even Leo and not life in general; But it was working. He saw Morgan off, before taking Reggie and Emilia home.

“Hey, want to get ice-cream on the boardwalk after dinner?” Emilia said, leaning out the back window. She pulled Morgan over to kiss his check. He nodded, and shyly returned the gesture. Cetus and Reggie tried not to giggle. Morgan slowly walked into the office, checked in, and sat in the depressing psychiatry waiting room.

The fluorescent lights flickered, but at a rate that wasn’t noticeable until there was a migraine. There was the smell of bleach, and old drywall. The receptionist was taking a line of calls, as other families came in, and everyone tried not to look at each other; Because every chair was awkwardly placed facing inward. The walls were mustard, and the chairs plastic. The water cooler bubbled, and the thermostat was set low. Morgan was wearing a forest green, salmon, and black argyle knit sweater, Cetus had made it. Fall had come around, and it was almost his birthday. Morgan reflected on how it had been nine months since his uncle took him in. He loved his uncle. But it wasn’t the same as his mother and father. He hadn’t seen his parent in almost three years.

           Leo came to the front, and h led Morgan to his quiet office, while holding Dolly. The light blue walls, smelled of ambiguous air freshener. There was a stack of papers, bulletin of inspirational posters, bowl of fidget toys, and a Yuka in the back. It had started to become comforting and familiar. Morgan relaxed into the chair, holding Icarus on his lap.

“Never seen you so relaxed,” Leo smiled. He took his seat, causing the office chair to squeak. “What would you like to talk about today?” He started. Morgan sat there, looking around the room. He wasn’t feeling anything in particular at the moment. Nothing was really bothering him. Well, maybe the embarrassment and excitement of getting his girlfriend with child WAY too early, or the stress of balancing the world of fey with homework. Also, the upcoming equinox dance at school, and his birthday. Actually, there was too many things to talk about.

“How about you and Emilia, or Cetus? Your aunt and uncle are getting a review from what I hear.” Leo prompted. He had an agenda. Morgan being relaxed was good, but there is always more work to do. Morgan shrugged, like usual.

“How about what you’re feeling right now? I can bring out the chart if you like.”

“I think I’m sad? Out of all things, today I miss mom and dad a lot. They send me paint, books, and clothes, to help my uncle. Mom still knows exactly what I like. Cetus is super nice, and he’s always there for me; He worked really hard to take me in, even with all the magic politics. I appreciate it. Oh, he actually got pulled into some quests, even though he’s common folk! Now I get to graduate early under professor Hara, researching Griminthropes. Aunt Jupiter wants to do a good job too, so she’s-” Morgan mumbled on.

“Stop there. This isn’t about Cetus’s life; This is about built-up trauma, and missing your parents, in spite of your recent happily ever after,” Leo interrupted. “I’m glad you’re confident enough to talk to me, but every conversation is about a fairy tale, not a feeling. You might need to break your habit of relying on magic, legends, and individuals, to avoid problems. I just want you to have a quality of life, feel loved, and care for your yourself. Without relying only on mystical outings or old books. You have the opportunity to do so, and I encourage you to focus on yourself.” Leo suggested. Morgan was leaning inn, looking mildly confused while he listened. At least he had Morgan’s attention.

“I get so frustrated with your avoidance problem. You walk around with so much pain and suffering; And it keeps you up at night. Yet, instead of processing it, and using your support system, you go to the shadow veil, stay silent, act reckless, and harm yourself. Your gratitude is wonderful, but happily ever afters are meaningless if you desert them. Avoidance is not a log term solution, and I don’t expect immediate change. But you need to start embracing things around you in the moment.” Leo said, fizzling out into a whimper, as he tried to stay professional. Morgan looked at him, unblinking.

“Yes, Leo. That’s what the wagon was for.” Morgan said, nodding his head. Leo gave a look of complete defeat. He already knew that.

“So you’re telling me, it’s more then a scheduled avoidance quest? That now it’s something meaningful; A source of fulfillment as a seer. Thus, Honestly Morgan, do you actually still need the wagon to find friends and joy? I don’t think you need to runaway anymore; Everything you need is right here, if you’ll sit with it.” Leo continued. Morgan liked that perspective; It sounded like enjoying life, without sacrificing his dreams. Morgan smiled a bit. The meaningful stories of each object in that wagon, were tales of is growth. That wagon had helped him. But his new life was doing that too. A simple, worn, faded, treasured wagon. In primary colours, the offend the senses. Something that was purchased at a toy store, to carry children on family outings. It is easy to say what the wagon was for, and what that means now. The wagon helped Morgan runaway, and become an accomplished mage. Now the wagon reminds him of good things he experienced, and is for visiting friends.

“Thanks Leo.” Morgan said. “I’m sorry I accidentally mislead you with the wagon. It’s very distracting.”

“Your most welcome, and forgiven. Oh look! We still have thirty minutes left.” Leo laughed. Morgan groaned. He still had to unpack his relationship with his parents with feeling words, now that the wagon was gone.

TABLE OF CONTENTS--->

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[entergamingxp]

Fort Triumph Review — A Pyrrhic Victory

May 6, 2020 12:00 PM EST

A functional blend of fantasy-themed XCOM battles with Heroes of Might and Magic strategy, Fort Triumph replicates their concepts but without the depth.

Fort Triumph is a tough one for me to review. It does everything it set out to do and has some rock-solid ideas conceptually. Imagine a strategy game like Heroes of Might and Magic, but replacing the massed army combat with fantasy XCOM. The combination works well, and Fort Triumph borrows strongly from both parts to make something reasonably complete. But when all was said and done, I just found myself completely unable to particularly care for it. It should’ve been something I adored, on paper, and I suspect that others will get more from it. I just found nothing to cling to, though.

“But when all was said and done, I just found myself completely unable to particularly care for [Fort Triumph].”

Tactical battles are the heart of Fort Triumph. You’re presented with a grid-based field to which your party of heroes are deployed, then take turns moving your armies. Each character gets three action points which can be used in any order and combination. Moving will cost one point up to your range, but you can spend more to move further. Most abilities and attacks will cost two to use, barring a few exceptions. So you’ll move, attack, etc. until all your characters have expended their action points, then your turn is over and the enemy moves. Fairly straightforward.

The physics are the most unique draw to Fort Triumph’s battles. Much like XCOM, standing next to objects of various heights can give either half or full cover from attacks in that direction, making you tougher to hit or damage. In Fort Triumph, every character has at least one “physics” ability that can directly interact with objects, whether they be units or cover. If an object or unit gets moved by these and strikes something else, it’ll do damage and stun them for the next turn, making them unable to use abilities. This quickly becomes the best way to manage enemies and keep them from overwhelming you.

This definitely makes for a less defensive approach to battles than XCOM. Cover is now a weapon that can be turned against you, so hiding behind a pillar will usually see it falling on you for huge damage instead. As such, I tended to play fast and direct, setting up chain stuns by pinballing objects between each other and controlling the field of battle. It’s a pretty neat idea, and definitely a good way of differentiating Fort Triumph from the crowd. This also makes sense, given that it was one of the key features of the original Kickstarter.

“Cover is now a weapon that can be turned against you, so hiding behind a pillar will usually see it falling on you for huge damage instead.”

Throughout the course of a game, you’ll build a party from any combination of four character classes: Mage, Paladin, Archer, and Barbarian. They play largely to their archetypes, gaining skill points as you level up. These skill points can be spent either learning new abilities, or upgrading the existing ones. Choosing a new ability will give you a choice out of three, with the order in which skills appear being random (and occasionally cross-class skills being an option). In theory, this keeps your characters varied in between playthroughs or squads. In practice, I couldn’t help but feel like my characters were becoming a homogenous blob. There were other factors to that though, like the story; we’ll get to that.

Between battles, you’ll be presented with a map that’s lifted almost directly from Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Parties have a set amount of movement per turn, which you can use to traverse across the map and interact with the objects you’ll find there. Some grant you items or resources, others are battles with treasure stashed behind them. Ultimately, it serves as a means of getting into more fights and accumulating experience before throwing your parties at the enemy team, who is doing exactly the same.

Bolstering this are the cities and “farms” you’ll find. Claiming a city lets you spend the resources you’ve accumulated on buildings, upgrades, and new heroes or parties. You can maintain up to three parties, but this is a risk, as the encounters on the world map won’t respawn. It can be hard to effectively level up all of them. As for buildings, you can construct up to one per turn, and space is limited so you can’t gain everything. These will generally grant your units some kind of bonus, increase your resource generation, produce more defenders if the city is attacked, and so on.

The buildings you have available are determined by your faction. There are four available, but as each of them have the same hero classes, these building abilities (and aesthetics) are the only real difference. I didn’t encounter any faction-specific skills for the heroes, so this seems to be a fairly minor feature at best.

Unfortunately, I found the overworld map to be fairly lackluster. The encounters are numerous and are usually only there to grind levels on. Challenge is minimal for most, unless you’re trying to level up a secondary party. Some of the items that can be found can change up your party capabilities quite extensively, but those are few and far between. Without the variety of units, armies, or options that something like Heroes of Might and Magic provided, Fort Triumph’s maps feel like little more than a shallow homage.

This is made all the worse by the enemy AI seemingly not playing the same game as me. They seemed to have no problem spawning pre-leveled enemies without regard to the cost. Did I beat up one of their roaming bands? It’s fine, they’ll deploy another a turn later. Losing my main party could seriously slow me down or see all my progress grind to a halt. If I’d already cleared the easy battles on the map, good luck to me.

Thankfully, that didn’t happen often because the AI also doesn’t seem to utilise the physics system well. There’d occasionally be minor attempts, but nothing like the coordinated map manipulation and stun locking I was doing. Maybe this would change on higher difficulties, but given that I was already disadvantaged in resources and party spawns, I didn’t care to find out.

Fort Triumph’s campaign will start you with a party of three adventurers — Mage, Paladin, Archer — and your first objective will be to meet the Barbarian. From there, you’ll travel the map as new objectives are placed on it, culminating in you defeating the opposing group in their city. Act completed, and on to the next. You can keep the leveled “story” units and a single artifact or boon to the next stage.

“Without the variety of units, armies, or options that something like Heroes of Might and Magic provided, Fort Triumph’s maps feel like little more than a shallow homage.”

Story in Fort Triumph is extremely lacking. Most cutscenes and moments are little more than a chance to apply some tongue-in-cheek humour that, for me, missed more than it landed. The notion of pointing out the fantasy stereotypes and then subverting them or laughing about them doesn’t make them less cliched. In fact, a lot of mid-budget fantasy games seem to use this instead of actually telling their own story; just try and evoke Dungeon Keeper’s humour but do little else, to the point where such attempts seem more common than the stereotypes.

In fairness, Fort Triumph did start making an attempt in Act 2 and onward. It started interspersing the jokes with attempts at moral quandaries, cynical statements on the way the nobles mistreat their peasants, and so on. Still, it was delivered amidst all the humour that made it really hard to want to take anything seriously.

This was even further hampered by the realisation that cutscenes specifically require a representative of each class to be present. They don’t need the individual characters, mind you; any old class member will do. Say the primary Paladin in your group was split from the party (or killed) prior to starting a story mission. No problem: the game will throw a level 1 Paladin into your party to fill in their lines. At that point, it’s kind of impossible to feel for said Paladin’s crisis of faith at learning of their order’s corruption when they aren’t the same character who discovered it. There was no attachment from that point onward for me.

There’s not much to say about Fort Triumph on the presentation front, either. The graphics are colourful and crisp, but don’t really have anything to make them stand out. Sounds are generic but effective, while the music is very limited and started growing repetitive extremely quickly.

Aside from the campaign, you can set up skirmish matches against the AI, or set up hotseat local co-op against them. There’s no online functionality, though Steam’s remote local play is enabled for it.

“Fort Triumph is a perfectly serviceable game built on an interesting blend of concepts.”

So to summarise, Fort Triumph is a perfectly serviceable game built on an interesting blend of concepts. It just ultimately feels too shallow and uninteresting for me to find anything worth attaching to. Battles are entertaining, but quickly become grindy. There’s a lack of variety in the hero classes, even with their skill customisation; there’s no real cosmetic customisation beyond colours and gender, either.

  I almost feel bad that I walked away from it with such a negative sentiment. This clearly meant something to the team, but I just found it dull before too long. Perhaps there’s someone out there who will absolutely adore this game and praise it as a hidden gem.

Still, when you’re based so heavily on a fusion of two very good games, you really need to iterate on those ideas. There has to be something about the combination that stands out; otherwise, people will just compare you to your inspiration and end up going right back to those games. On that note, I just want to play more XCOM now.

May 6, 2020 12:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/05/fort-triumph-review-a-pyrrhic-victory/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fort-triumph-review-a-pyrrhic-victory

[thomasroach]

Warhammer Chaosbane Preview – Venturing into the Fantasy Universe

The post Warhammer Chaosbane Preview – Venturing into the Fantasy Universe appeared first on Fextralife.

Bigben Interactive sets to bring a new action-RPG for the first time set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. A hack ‘n’ slash title that allows players to take up roles of Solider of the Empire, a Dwarf Slayer, a Mage High Elf or a hunter-like Wood Elf. With plenty of unfriendly creatures such a nurglings to destroy and gruesome bosses to slay. But how will this game shape up with there already being a plethora of Warhammer games, books, tabletops and more? We take a look at what’s known so far about Chaosbane after the release of its first beta.

Warhammer Chaosbane Preview – Venturing into the Fantasy Universe

Genre:  ARPG, Hack and Slash Developed by: BigBen Interactive Published by: Eko Software Release date:  June 5th Platforms:  PC / PlayStation / Xbox One Website: http://bit.ly/2UtK8Le

Warhammer Chaosbane Features

The first hack and slash action-RPG set in the Warhammer Fantasy world.

Brutal and ferocious combat with monsters, fight using over 180 different powers.

Choose from four character classes which include Soldier of the Empire who can take a beating, Dwarf specialising in melee combat, High Elf who deals ranged damage wielding magic to their will or Wood Elf who uses their hunting abilities consisting of traps and bow skills.

Over 70 monster types to battle against, unique bosses and many of the Nurgle’s minions fight through.

Play solo or with up to four players in local or online mode. Classes have been synergised to work together well in co-op. Mixing different skills and abilities can create powerful effects.

Versatile playing experience with different modes to enjoy including story mode, boss rush mode, a number of dungeons and regular updates.

Nine levels of difficulties so you can find new challenges when you up the ante.

Story & Setting

Players will be able to adventure through several well known places in the Warhammer universe including the cursed city of Praag and Nuln, known as the Empire’s old capital. You will serve Magnus, a soldier who has helped to bring together the warring factions and lead the united front against the Chaos. However, Magnus gets cursed by a sorceress who you will need to track down in order to reverse the effects.

While each character has their own well deserved backstory which is introduced at the beginning of the game, no matter which character you pick, the main plot remains the same. This was designed so that in co-op the campaign story will not differ, creating a more cohesive gameplay whether in a group or playing solo.

Gameplay

Warhammer Chaosbane takes on the first action-RPG to be set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. The layout takes inspiration from the Diablo series, displaying a spherical health meter on the left and an energy meter on the right. In order to regain energy, you use your primary skill to regenerate the meter. Using Q you can refill your health meter, but this also has a cooldown so must be used at the right moments.

While there are nine difficulty levels to choose from, normal is the third level from easy, in the beta the devs had the harder difficulty levels locked. Hopefully, each of the more difficult levels will add further challenge for those looking for a tougher and rewarding playthrough.

Leveling

Each quest you take on will reward you with experience and gold which can be used to purchase items from the vendor. The vendor gives you the options to Donate, Trade or access Relic Hunter, this can gain you new useful items. Located in the trio gauge, the top small spherical meter indicates your progression to the next level, as you gain experience you will fill this meter. Experience also comes from killing enemies, even minion type creatures will go towards gaining you your next level.

A new skill will drop automatically as you level up, introducing them one by one which makes it easier for players to test out new skills as they acclimate the controls. You will then need to decide which skills you wish to keep active, as you level you will gain Skill Points that can be spent in gaining or improving skills, how many skill points needed will depend on the skill type and tier of that skill.

Combat

There are a few classes to choose from which will alter the type of combat you will experience but ultimately Warhammer Chaosbane is a hack and slash. If you choose a melee class, combat is up close and personal, while a ranged class such as mage or wood elf will create distance between yourself and the enemy. But each class has its own archetype ability which adds a different feel to your usual RPG gameplay.

Classes also have a sort of rage form called Bloodlust, enemies will drop orbs that will fill up the rage meter which will be then be unleashed according to your chosen class. Elontir will fire blood-red discs while Braagi the dwarf will send axes in every direction. This will probably result in some very satisfying kills as you unleash your fury.

Environments also aren’t just there to look gruesome, they also act as cover in fights. You can hide behind pillars, to avoid boss attacks or even cast magic from behind them. As you keep fighting these elements might get destroyed in the process, keeping the battles rather active so you’re not just fighting in one spot all the time. Bosses like the Great Unclean also have AOE attacks such as spikes that come up from the ground, so being on your guard and watching your surroundings will be key. This will be especially fun playing in co-op as you’ll need to work with your team players to come up with strategies that take advantage of your abilities.

Skills/God Skill Tree

As you level up you gain new skills, these are bound to your action bar which on PC uses the standard QWE and left-click/right-click on mouse. These can be used as long as you have resources to spend. For example the Soldier will use Energy as his main resource. You can also upgrade these skills by spending more skill points which each roughly have three tiers. You can activate new abilities, as they become available as long as you don’t exceed the maximum skill points available. Its also possible to swap skills around to suit different missions, making the system rather flexible, being able to amend these at anytime with no cost.

But there are also further abilities that you draw from the gods. The God Skill Tree offers a wide variety of abilities that are purchased by looted coloured fragments, which are gained from enemy kills. These have a combination of active and passive skills that can enhance your gameplay. The skill tree is mapped out in the shape of a Sigmar’s Comet. The system reminds me a lot of the previous World of Warcraft skill trees in the Legion expansion or the likes of the expansive Salt and Sanctuary skill tree, which will require you to unlock previous nodes before unlocking others further down the line. But don’t think you’ll be spamming these skills as they have longer cooldowns than regular skills, means you will have to use them wisely.

By having a second skill tree you could really come up with more specific builds, gaining more flexibility in playstyles when it comes to the four classes available. This tree only unlocks after Level 15 upon completing a quest.

Classes

During the initial beta that took place in March, players got to experience two of the four classes, Konrad the Soldier and Elontir the Mage. But they have also released a trailer focusing on Bragi Axebiter the axe wielding dwarf slayer, showing a preview of his skills.

You can gain Archetype abilities, which will unlock early on in the game. These are fixed abilities that add directional control, they also are dependent on the character you pick. This ability has a cool down, as it will need to regenerate its resource.

High Elf – Magic

One of the most interesting magical abilities for the High Elf class is its Archetype Ability that when casting a fire ball called Aetheric Orb, the last orb cast can be redirected using spacebar and using the cursor to aim at a target. The fire ball will then change paths making this ability very reactive to different combat situations, and quite deadly if used in combination with another ability. Mages can be built to suit your preference, whether you want to go for fire to wield fireballs at your enemies or for a different elemental focus.

Soldier of the Empire – Can take damage

Konrad Vollen the Soldier acts as a melee class, with his own Archetype ability called Counter Attack which acts as a bash. This will knock enemies flying dealing damage as well as create space between you and your target. This ability will need to regenerate over time once used and for the soldier it comes in the form shield charge.

Wood Elf – Traps/Bow

This woodland elf appears to be a kind of hunter class, using a bow as the main weapon and can use additional traps to stagger enemies. Not much else has been revealed about this class at this stage as this wasn’t an option in the recent beta.

Dwarf – Melee/axe wielder

While small in stature he’s not to be under estimated especially when powered by bloodlust which sends out spinning axes in all directions. A more up close fighter, he has a great deal of mobility when he unleashes his bloodlust. While not much else is known about his skills at this point, only from what has been show in his character trailer, this looks like a fun class to try.

Enemies

Off course you will be faced with the big bad bosses but there are a host of smaller enemies to face. These include the Nurgle’s minions, Nurglings who like to swarm unsuspecting adventurers who cross their path. One boss unveiled so far is the Great Unclean, yes its just as pleasant as it sounds. While not being a mobile boss, he spends his time in his own filth and uses projectile vomiting as one of his attacks, mmm lovely. He also likes send out directional shockwaves and call upon his minions to do the dirty work.

Definitely lives up to his name, eww.

Loot/Gear

As expected with an action-RPG loot plays its role in gaining new gear which has its own traits to add to the mix. These can add to core attributes in the areas of attack, defence (which covers things such as health regeneration), as well as utility which includes counter-attack or even cooldown recovery. So far there doesn’t seem to be rarity levels which is seen in the likes of action-RPGs such as Last Epoch or even Path of Exile. For items shown in the beta this isn’t present, but maybe this is something they could add later on.

Loot systems play an important role in this kind of game, as it has to be organised in such a way that players can located newer items looted which is something Chaosbane has adopted already, but having further ways to organise items would be appreciated especially when you’re dealing with tonnes of loot.

Audio & Visuals

There is great attention to detail when it comes to environments in its isometric view, everything looks well designed, reflecting the the medieval feel of the game. You can loot items from barrels by destroying them which gives a rewarding feeling. Even when you strike down an enemy, they’re flung backwards in a rag-doll motion making your kills very satisfying to watch. However, what makes it feel like a Warhammer game is the use of its dark and at times gruesome elements from backgrounds to monsters you’ll encounter.

What’s interesting for this game is that there is a different layout depending on if you are using a keyboard and mouse setup or gamepad on PC. Playing with a gamepad will offer a layout that is a little more compact, more optimised for scrolling through menus using gamepad controls which is a nice touch.

Character’s voice acting is well cast, the voices picked for each of the roles only add to the immersion of the game, I look forward to meeting more characters in game as from what I’ve seen they’re unique and only add to the experience.

Final Thoughts

I appreciate the fact that Bigben has included the God Skill Tree as this will provide players with more specifics when it comes to playstyle. It will be up to you if you want to gain some more passives to boost your core skills or gain new ones that deal great damage but have the offset of longer cooldowns.

While most games may require you to spend some earned gold to change current skill setup, in Warhammer Chaosbane, changing at anytime without penalty has its good and bad. On one side this means flexibility at a moments’ notice for different fights while the downside is that it could reduce replayability of each class when respeccing has no cost. Hopefully the God Skill Tree makes enough of a difference to provide future playthroughs for players as it adds more customisable options.

In terms of UI hopefully Chaosbane will give players options in of how they view the masses of loot they will gain while playing. Currently the gamepad view seems to offer a better at a glance view to compare items in list form but this might be down to player preference.

I’m hoping each of the other classes will be equally thrilling as the two that have been shown in the beta, giving a good balance of skills that will work in both single player and co-op.

Warhammer Chaosbane releases on June 5th on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC. Its next beta which is available for those who pre-order and will be in April.

If you want to read more previews be sure to check out Warhammer 40,000 Inquisitor – Martyr Preview. You can also check out the unusual survival RPG Zanki Zero: Last Beginning. If you’re looking for a sci-fi filled adventure be sure read next The Surge 2 Preview: Stronger, Faster, Character Creation!.

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